Kargil: An Operational Update upto 18 August 1999
20 Aug, 1999 · 250
Maj. Gen. Ashok Krishna (Retd) says that the Afghan Mujahideen have no special love for Kashmir; so the lure of money and adventure will fade away quickly in the face of heavy casualties
General
Pakistan
resorted to intense shelling of
Kargil
Town
on 1 Aug. Sporadic incidents of shelling continue in this sector as also in the rest of J&K.
Srinagar
.
Indian territory
in the Kupwara sector of
North Kashmir
.
Pakistan
to capture an Indian border outpost (BOP) along the international border in Ranbirsinghpura sector of
Jammu
was repulsed. A big group of Pakistani raiders, including regulars and mercenaries, assisted by commandos, attacked Pittal-Pindi BOP from three directions after crossing the international border at 1.30 pm on 6 August.
Kashmir
with rockets and other phisticated weapons around on 14 August. Two army men and two foreign militants were killed. The attack on the Army camp is the sixth in a series of planned attacks and comes close on the heels of a major strike by militants against marine commandos at Aragam village in Baramulla district on 11 August in which two marine commandos, including an officer were killed.
Indian territory
in the Kori Creek area in
Gujarat
.
Pakistan
said all 16 personnel on board were killed. The Defence Ministry said an IAF MiG-21 used an air-to-air missile to shoot down the French-origin Atlantique aircraft which can carry out surveillance over the sea, to detect and shoot down submarines, apart from ships. The Indian MiG had taken off from the forward air base of Nalia close to Bhuj in
Gujarat
. The MiG-21 opened fire only after the Atlantique failed to respond to its signal to land at an Indian airbase. The Pakistani aircraft acted in a hostile manner by turning direction into our fighter. At that stage the Atlantique was shot down by an air-to-air missile which hit the port engine of the aircraft which caught fire.
Islamabad
's overall game plan to internationalise the Sir Creek issue.
Pakistan
has been trying to determine the navigability of the tidal creeks in the Sir Creek area through aerial intrusions. This is being done to identify the inlets through which a limited water-borne operation in this zone could be carried out.
Rann of Kutch
comprises several hundred small channels which merge into three large creeks - Sir Creek, Kori and Mianwari. Any intrusion in this area can go undetected as the wasteland in the Rann is practically uninhabited. Plans for a physical intrusion by
Pakistan
into the Sir Creek area is probably intended to bring its territorial dispute with
India
in this area into the international limelight.
EAST INDIA
Dhaka
by Pakistan International Airlines in the third week of July. After meeting ISI officials there, they sneaked into
India
via Karimganj. They had been sent “ to train Muslim youth and launch a jehad to liberate
Assam
and establish an Islamic country comprising
Assam
and parts of North- Eastern India”. They planned to use ULFA and other outfits to create disturbances.
Kashmir
; so the lure of money and adventure will fade away quickly in the face of heavy casualties. This is what the Indian Army and para military and police forces must achieve in the shortest possible time through coordinated action.
1. Pakistani aggressors still occupy the stray post in Mushkoh; they are being supported by artillery fire. Brazen attacks on Indian military and para military outposts are also on the rise in J&K.
SITUATION ON THE LINE OF CONTROL (LoC):
KARGIL SECTOR
1.
2. Pakistani troops made another futile attempt on 10 August to capture an Indian post in the Siachen glacier. Initially six soldiers tried to attack the post at 5.40 pm.Two of them were killed and the rest ran back. Later, at , 15 soldiers again attacked the post; three were killed forcing the remainder to withdraw. The bodies of the Pakistani soldiers were seen lying on the glacier throughout the day on 11 August
3. Eight Pakistani soldiers were captured as prisoners of war on the Indian side of the LoC in the Batalik, Mushkoh and Dras sectors just prior to 10 August.
4. The process of identifying all-weather, permanent posts for maintaining vigil has been completed on the Indian sides. Winter stocking is underway, mines are being cleared and the infrastructure required for the forward deployment is being built.
INSURGENCY
5. As anticipated, there has been a considerable rise in militant related intrusions and attacks:
(a) 1 August. Six foreign intruders were shot dead in Kupwara's
Nowgam sector by a patrol of 2/9 GR. Four AK 47 rifles, 12 magazines, 6 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and 25 detonators were recovered. The BSF also discovered 10 powerful IEDs from a hideout near
(b) 3 August. Troops of the 12 Garhwal Rifles gunned down five foreign mercenaries 10 kms inside
(c) 5 August. 10 Pak soldiers were killed when Indian troops repulsed an attack in the Akhnur sector.
(d) 6 August. A full-fledged attack by
(e) 7 August. In a pre dawn attack launched from five directions,
Harkat-ul-Ansar and Hizbul Mujahideen militants attacked a camp of the 4 Rashtriya Rifles in Natnusa village in Kupwara district. Each militant group comprised 25 to 30 personnel. Five army men and six ultras were killed and 10 soldiers wounded. The militants fired 20 rockets and were armed with sophisticated weapons.
(f) 14 August. A group of militants attacked the 34 Rashtriya Rifles camp in Badgam district of central
(g) 16 August. Pakistani army regulars and militants attacked the Narainpur post of the BSF in the Ramgarh sector, killing a jawan and injuring five others.
6. The total number of militants in J&K has now risen to about 1500. Most of them have occupied high ridges on the Indian side of the LoC. 70 percent of the militants are Afghan Mujahideen and the rest are Punjabi Muslims. The very limited local assistance they get is at gun point. For this new generation of militants Jehad (holy war) against kafirs (infidels) is the final objective. Kashmiris are now as much the target of these militants as the Army and para military personnel. They are ruthless and fight to the last.
SHOOTING DOWN OF PAK PLANE ; 11 AUGUST
7. The Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down a Pakistani naval anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft which intruded 10 km into
8. This intrusion is part of
9. The marshy area of the
ACTIVITIES OF THE ISI IN NORTH –
10. Two assistant field officers and two Indian agents of the Pakistan ISI were arrested in Assam on 9 August.They were identified as Md. Fasi Ullah Hussaini of Hyderabad, Sind, and Md. Javed Wakar of Karachi, and the Indian agents as Maulana Hafiz Akram Mullick of Kupwara, Kashmir, and Qari Salim Ahmed of Mehilki, in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Interrogations revealed that they had arrived in
ASSESSMENT
12. Once fundamentalists are armed and trained and imbued with the Jehad spirit they will try to carry out the tasks assigned, particularly in a situation where the Pak Army personnel in disguise are part of their groups. Hence, militant activity will continue to increase in J & K till terrorism is decisively defeated. The Afghan Mujahideen have no special love for
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